Ford Mustang 5-litre V8 GT review: American muscle car is a beast – and is all about driving pleasure
Supersizing the Ford Mustang is the only thing the makers could do with a car as American as apple pie
THE Ford Mustang is an American icon, as synonymous with the States as apple pie and type-2 diabetes.
So for the midlife facelift of the European version, there was only one thing for them to do — supersize it.
The outgoing Mustang, which hit these shores in 2015, wasn’t exactly a shrinking violet, with 412bhp at the wheels.
But the new one packs nearly 450bhp from the same 5-litre V8 hunk of gristle under the hood, delivering 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds.
In a straight line, you will just about keep up with a Porsche 911 Carrera, even with a PDK gearbox.
It’s a second-plus quicker than the old Mustang.
That model cost £34,000. This will set you back £41,000.
Still, it’s a lot cheaper than the £78,000 Porsche. Also beefed up is the new TEN-cog automatic gearbox. Yep, you read that right. Ten gears.
Ford tells us that makes the Mustang even sportier, with short gears you can climb and drop with more agility than with the six-speed automatic.
Torque-rich motors like the Mustang’s — which now produces a maximum of 527Nm — generally don’t need short gears to keep them pulling.
But ninth and tenth gear might help keep the rev needle down in the outside lane of the motorway.
Key facts: Ford Mustang 5-litre V8 GT
Price: £41,095
Engine: 5-litre V8 petrol
Economy: 23.3mpg
0-62mph: 4.3 seconds
Top speed: 155mph
Length: 4.8 metres
CO2: 270g/km
A lazy automatic gearbox was one of the few weaknesses in the last model, so Ford has spent the last few years improving it.
After thrashing the car on the twisties in the South of France this week, I can tell you it still isn’t perfect but the improvement is vast.
In sport mode the urgency is there but it still gets flustered under duress, shifting cog mid-corner rather than entry.
The new rev-matching works well though, keeping downshifts smooth.
But Ford has done such an outstanding job of keeping alive the brutal, beastly nature of the V8, an automatic seems like sacrilege.
Even if it was perfect, would you really want an automatic Mustang? What would Steve McQueen say?
Elsewhere, the evolution goes on.
In 2017 it got a hammering by NCAP because it didn’t have idiot-proof features like emergency brake assist.
Now it does.
Pedestrian detection and the lane-keeping aid should improve its two-star rating with the crash test dummies.
But this car is all about pure driving pleasure.
It even has a line-lock function that brakes the front wheels, letting you chew through your rear tyres in a glorious cacophony of wheel squeal and smoke.
It is more nimble in corners than the old model and the V8 packs a wallop that never fails to impress.
Interior and exterior styling are tweaked in all the right places.
And that noise.
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Imagine the world ending in a hail of fire and brimstone — the Mustang revving in first gear is the soundtrack.
The engine alone justifies the £41,000 price.
But the best thing about this American icon?
You don’t have to move there to drive one.